League leaders Arsenal welcome second placed Chelsea in a Capital One Cup encounter on Tuesday, the 29th of October 2013.

Preview: Gunners looking for first win over Chlesea in two years

Last time Arsene Wenger’s men got the better of Chelsea was back in October 2011, when a Robin Van Persie hat-trick guided the Gunners to a 5-3 victory in a scintillating encounter at the Stamford Bridge. Since then the Blues have had the upper hand scoring two wins and a draw in the three subsequent matches played between the two sides.

However Arsenal seem to be a completely different team this time around and the Gunners would be hoping to make full use of their good from. Wenger’s men have only lost twice this season, once against Aston Villa in the opening fixture and then against Borussia Dortmund in their last Champions League encounter.

However the Gunners have recovered well from their midweek loss to the German outfit by defeating Crystal Palace 2-0 despite being down to ten men. Mikel Arteta received a controversial red card, but Arsene Wenger has chosen not to appeal given the fact that the Spaniard was already scheduled to be rested for the midweek clash.

“I think we have good grounds to appeal. If he's only suspended for one game I won't do it because he's suspended for Tuesday night and anyway I would not have played him ,” said the Frenchman after the 2-0 victory over Crystal Palace.

18 year old Isaac Hayden who made his debut in the third round clash of the tournament against West Brom last month is poised to start in Tuesday’s encounter with Arsene Wenger praising the Englishman’s intelligence and his technical abilities.

“I like his capacity of concentration and I believe as well that technically he is very focused to do well.

“He is committed and at half-time [in West Brom game] I told him to behave well because he was on a yellow card and he did that well in the second half.

“He is maybe not a creative player but everything he does is intelligent. I like his intelligence and all these qualities together makes me choose him.”

Serge Gnabry who signed a long-term contract with the North London side is likely to recover from a knock he suffered in the match against Crystal palace and side alongside Ryo Miyaichi on the flanks.
Both managers are expected to field fringe players in Tuesday’s clash and on paper Mourinho’s Chelsea will certainly be the stronger side. The Portuguese tactician has to his expense a star studded bench and many of these players are likely to feature in the London derby.

Juan Mata and David Luiz who have seen their game time limited after the arrival of the ‘special one’ are likely to feature whereas Kevin De Bruyne, Cesar Azpilicueta, Demba Ba and Samuel Eto will all be in contention for a start.

Despite having the depth and quality any manager would love to have in their squad, Mourinho has chosen to take a snipe at the people responsible for scheduling the tie for Tuesday. Chelsea are fresh from a 2-1 victory over Manchester City on Sunday and are due to face another Premier League heavyweight in a span of two days.

The former Real Madrid boss lamented that a lack of preparation time will not allow him to field the team of his choice and he will not be able to justice to the London derby.

"If they want a big game, we cannot give the big game. If they want the players that were playing [on Sunday], we cannot give them that,” said Mourinho.

"We have to protect our players. We cannot put our players playing in October two matches in the space of three days.

"I hope they [the football authorities] all enjoy. We are going to try to do our job and we will do our job the best we can."

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